St Mary's Cathedral Lych Gate.

A cloudy cooler day just right for sketching. We went to St Mary's Cathedral lych gate. It was built in 1919 by Henry Weston and his nephews. In the foreground are the crosses for the unknown soldiers from the Taranaki Maori wars. The second picture has all our sketches. Only three of us today. Myself, Trevor and Maurice.

Here is my sketch:

Here are all our sketches:

Thorny the blacksmith making railway nails at the Extravaganza Fair.

St Mary's Lych Gate - historically representing where the dead bodies were passed over to the jurisdiction of the church.

10th September 2016 St Mary's Cathedral.

St Mary's Cathedral, the oldest stone church in New Zealand. The land it stands on was obtained in 1842 and the church was built in 1845-1846. We could only sketch outside as the church is now closed for earthquake strengthening. This earthquake strengthening and remediation is expected to cost between $8-10 million. That's a lot of fundraising!

Blue biro and watercolour.

St Marys

Now closed for earthquake proofing - for a number of years

St Marys

Sketched by Patricia

Taranaki Cathedral

The Taranaki Cathedral was forced to close indefinitely. After the Christchurch earthquakes, older buildings in New Zealand have a certain amount of time to be assessed and upgraded. This stone building is rated at something like 15%, which is pretty low. People aren't sure what can be done to make it safe while keeping the same style of architecture preserved. The price tag will also keep this place closed for quite a while.
There's quite a few buildings on the New Plymouth main shopping street that are likely going to need expensive retrofitting or replacing. Nobody knows what the downtown will look like in the future. Just like this place.

St Marys

Taranaki Cathedral, St Mary's , New Plymouth NZ. The oldest stone church in New Zealand , and now a Cathedral.   Taranaki Sketchers were given the opportunity to sketch inside and out before it closes indefinitely.    The building is now the subject of an earthquake risk assessment following the devastating effects on the Christchurch earthquakes which have impacted on the safety of all old building is NZ. .    I'm not sure if the cost of the work is known but this building must be saved - a public appeal may be required.   [ drawing  pen 0.04 and Tombow colours] MLB